Typically, photovoltaic cells, commonly known as solar cells, are devices to convert solar radiation into electrical energy. Generally, solar cells are fabricated on a semiconductor wafer or substrate using semiconductor processing techniques to form a p-n junction near a surface of the substrate. Solar radiation impinging on the surface of the substrate creates electron and hole pairs in the bulk of the substrate, which migrate to p-doped and n-doped regions in the substrate, thereby generating a voltage differential between the doped regions. The doped regions are coupled to metal contacts on the solar cell to direct an electrical current from the cell to an external circuit coupled thereto. Generally, an array of solar cells, each solar cell interconnected, is mounted on a common or shared platform to provide a photovoltaic module. A plurality of photovoltaic modules or module groups may be electrically coupled to an electrical power distribution network, forming a photovoltaic system.
Typically, photovoltaic module composed of a photovoltaic laminate may be relatively large and readily breakable. Installing such a photovoltaic module, e.g. on a large-scale power plant, may require paying a lot of attention to tolerances, positioning, and security, and consume a lot of time.
Additionally, PV modules may need to be reliably grounded. Currently, grounding the PV modules requires pins on the structure to pierce the anodization of the aluminum frames of the PV modules. Typically, this pin interface lies between the two faces and is not obviously engaged for inspection. Furthermore, relative motion between a grounding pin and the surface of the PV module that the pin contacts may wear down the material of the surface under the pin. Wearing down the material of the surface under the pin may cause an increase in the resistance of the path between the PV module and ground.